USA

June 12, 2008

Residents along the Mississippi River could experience the worst flooding in 15 years as storm waters rise, possibly cresting 10 or more feet above flood stage during the next two weeks, according to the National Weather Service. In some Midwest locations, water has broken levees and overrun banks, as happened in Elnora, Ind., where submerged farmland turned buildings into islands.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R) of Virginia said Wednesday that theFBI has found that four government computers used by his staff members have been hacked by sources working from China. Wolf is a longtime critic of China's human rights record.

The federal government moved Tuesday to address deepening concerns about tomatoes linked to roughly 150 cases of salmonella poisoning. As regulators continued to search for the source of the problem, the Food and Drug Administration cleared fresh tomatoes in Florida and California of any responsibility in the outbreak.

The Transportation Department's inspector general said Tuesday that the Federal Aviation Administration is hiring so many new air-traffic controllers that 22 percent of its 314 air-control facilities exceed maximum trainee numbers.

With soaring gasoline prices forcing people to explore transportation options, Amtrak reported a surge in ridership in May, when it reached a record 2,577,189 passengers, a 12.3 percent increase over May 2007.

Due to an unsettled labor dispute at the University of California, Los Angeles, former President Bill Clinton Tuesday canceled plans to address 4,000 UCLA graduates at Friday's commencement exercises.

The number of children living in poverty between 2000 and 2006 rose 9 percent nationally, with Colorado registering the largest jump (73 percent), according to the Colorado Children's Campaign.

New York's American Museum of Natural History was"extremely helpful" this week in returning ancestral remains of a Canadian Indian tribe long held in the museum's collection, members of Tseycum First Nation said. A museum spokesman said it is open to "legitimate" requests.